Friday Jan 9 - Meet at Murphy's Law (Ynot Pizza on Providence)

“Uncle” is a term of familiarity rather than familial for most of the runners. He’s actually a rather tall Dwarf, being just under 5 feet tall and could probably pass as human if he wanted to. His age is hard to determine, about 45, maybe 55 or 60, you’re not really sure.

Uncle Elwyn has always served as a kind of mentor of sorts, meeting you here and there or taking you out for drinks to tell one of his many stories. He always has some piece of advice and more often that not, a challenge for your particular skillset. For the combat types, this usually involved taunting some scary looking person, simultaneously pissing them off and making you laugh so hard you couldn’t breathe. Sometimes the lesson was how to win a fight, sometimes it was how to back away from a fight and sometimes it was how to take a beating so you can still walk away (after a few minutes of lying still). It was always kind of an asshole move, but every once in a while the lesson was how to let your dinner company get what was coming to him. Nobody is 100% sure what (if anything) Uncle Elwyn really did anything in the Shadows, but one thing is for sure, that dude can take a beating like nobodies business.

This time is different though. He has invited you all together instead of one at a time and has promised to introduce you to a real, honest-to-ghost shadow fixer. Apparently he wants one last chance help you set your expectations about likely challenges ahead (and get all the hollywood trid garbage out of your head) and also let you know all the worst ways you can get yourselves into trouble so you can avoid doing so. Uncle Elwyn is never at a loss for words, and ​as ​you have heard him say​ many times​ before​ ​"The stuff rookies don’t know about the shadows could fill a library." So tonight he’s taking you to dinner, and despite your excitement, the cliche of a “last meal” is not lost on you.

At downtown dive near the waterfront (Murphy’s Law) with some pizza and a few beers….

“So you want to be a Shadowrunner… Are you sure? Do you know what you’re getting yourself into? I’m here to help you get your feet wet and your hands a little dirty without getting them shot off. The shadows can be pretty damn unforgiving of stupidity and ignorance, even if not knowing shit is no fault of your own.”

Uncle Elwyn’s musings…

On what the life is like…
You are unsupported, expendable, deniable.
There is never enough information
Rarely enough time to prepare
Always too much risk
Too little pay
Opportunities to make friends are rare, and easy to miss
Opportunities to make enemies all too common and usually damn hard to “miss” as much as you might want to.
Saying that “nothing is ever simple in the shadows” is probably the biggest fucking understatement since the 4th world. This shit gets complicated fast, so keep your eyes open for the details and nuances of the situation around you. Learning to see the next move before it happens is not optional if you ever want to be an old shadowrunner.

On having the right frame of mind…
Know why you’re doing this. BTW, why ARE you doing this?
Morals will get you poor or killed, but probably both.
The again, if you want to remain a human fucking being you gotta have a line you won’t cross, so find the line that you can live with…
Don’t get cocky. There’s always someone faster or tougher or maybe neither but who can still make your head explode with that sniper rifle you didn’t see.
Be ready to lose friends. People die in this biz. (esp if you forget the f-ing medkit)
Don’t forget why you’re being hired – to do the job, to stay in the shadows…

On the subject of Fixers and Johnsons..
Runners need jobs but aren’t connected and don’t want to bother listening to jobs they won’t take. Johnsons need runners but don’t know any and they get real pissed when they have to offer the job more than once. Fixers take care of all this, they are all the connections that keep the clean hands clean and the dirty hands busy.
It used to be pretty common for Johnsons to try and kill the runners after a job. Your elders took care of that shit and locked it down, so it’s pretty rare now, but watch out all the same. Nobody’s gonna miss you, after all.

Know what you are selling…
Willingness to take certain jobs. Unwilling extraction? wetwork?
Will travel?

It used to be pretty common for Johnsons to try and kill the runners after a job. Your elders took care of that shit and locked it down, so it’s pretty rare now, but watch out all the same. Nobody’s gonna miss you, after all.
At least at the meet, take your Johnson at face value, they’re trying to get a job done, not trying to screw you (probably).
While you’re at the meet, get as much info from the Johnson as possible.
Johnson’s don’t like to socialize the illegal shit they’re about to contract out, so listening to the details usually means you’ve already accepted the job.

On the subject of Legwork…
Do your legwork, for Ghosst sake do the GD LEGWORK!
Get as much info as you can on the Johnson, the target, and the area where the run is going down. You will probably not have time to do all 3.
Know the neighborhood you’re headed for and Star’s (or Knight’s) normal response time.
Think about who your job is going to affect and how.
Contacts – Who do you know?

On the subject of violence…
Kill with a smile whenever possible. The smoothest jobs are ones done without a gun and where a smiling target helped you along the way.
It’s generally a good idea to keep the body count as low as possible. The only thing stars hate more than paperwork is media coverage and bodies create lots of both, at least outside of the barrens.
If you’re anywhere that has even adequate police response times, consider using silent weapons, and try to avoid using them.
Take it easy on the explosives, they tend to scare the shit out of everyone within a mile or so. And scared people tend to be exceptionally vigilant and edgy.
And ghost help you if you pop a grenade anywhere near downtown, because the stars response will be directly proportional to the number of panicky soccer moms who just called that shit in.

Shit you’ll come across at some point… Quiz time!
Threats: How will you (as a team AND as an individual) deal with each of these?
Muscle
Spellcasters
Drones
Hackers
Clerks
Organized crime
Law Enforcement/Military
Forensics
Corporate Security
Facility Security Measures
IC
Critters
Spirits
Big Players (Well connected enemies, dragons, politicians)
Notoriety
Public Awareness

On the subject of Magic… (from a mundane’s perspective)
Totems: I’ve known a few casters in my time… Totems are like the crazy figment on their shoulder that only they can hear. Nevertheless, most of them were fairly effective regardless of how batshit crazy they were, so I guess it works. As far as I can figure it, if you can form a concept and it’s likely to say disturbing shit you you while you’re under the influence of LSD, then you’ve got a winner.
One thing to remember about spellcasters, they’ve got to see you, so if hiding doesn’t work, use some fucking smoke and if that doesn’t work try a flash grenade. And if you still can’t catch a break, I heard they react badly to lead in their bodies, so try that if all else fails.
Astral presences: It’s kind of unsettling to know that there can be intangible, invisible spooks right next to you watching and you’d never know it….
– It’s tough, but even a mundane can sense an astral presence if they’re trained and know what to look for.
– Keep the magicky dude watching for unwanted astral company
– Mundane stealth actually works surprisingly well against astral sentries if you remember a few things:
– They can’t see through glass
– If you must be in the open, you stand out less against a backdrop of living things, including natural earth.
– They can’t hear electronic voices, so vocalize through your commlink of you think you’re being spied on.
– If you need to lose an astral tail, try spending some time in glow city or some other suitably fucked up area. I’m told astral space is pretty fraggin dangerous there and even becomes difficult to hang around for normal mages and spirits.
If you need to go offensive, you generally need spells, spirits or your own astral mage. Simple astral perception usually doesn’t cut it since you can’t fly and they can, but your perceiving dude can sneak up on them indoors you might get one shot in, so make it count. Underground tunnels are rare but ideal since astral bodies can’t pass through natural earth.

On the subject of commlinks…
Most people walk around with a fucking supercomputer in their pocket just so they can render their Maria-Arm-Metal AROs in the highest detail possible. Well, you need a supercomputer too, but not so that you can pretend that you look good, it’s there to help you stay alive.
Information is everything in this business, and I’m not just talking about info on the target’s mainframe. The most important info you have, and one that most people take for granted is knowing what your buddies are doing and your ability to communicate with them. If you lose your commlink or it gets bricked, you are essentially shut off from the 2 things that are most likely to save your ass when the drek hits the intake.
Commlinks provide
– Ability to see and use the Augmented world
– Instant and discreet communication with allies (marking enemies)
– Friendly locations and status
– Sharing of intel and data feeds from allies, drones
– Security for your PAN
– Matrix search
– Remote control for vehicle/drones
Buy the best one you can afford and then have a backup as well. Most runners use one for their fake IDs and day to day stuff and a completely separate one for working hours.

On the subject of fake SINs…
Being SINless sucks balls. And regardless of whether you’ve ever had one or not, you can’t really know how true that statement is till you’ve gone to the other side of the fence.
– If you were born SINless, you’re off the grid, which is ideal in this biz, but one of the first luxuries you should buy after a good payday is a good fake SIN so you buy the shit you always wanted, but was never for sale in the barrens. You can even go shopping downtown if you want, but most SINless-born are too damn uncomfortable amidst that much civilization, at least early on.
– If you’re a SINner? Well, life is gonna suck pretty bad at some point when you have to ditch your born identity and go off grid. Getting you a decent fake SIN is a little harder too, because somewhere in the GSR is your real info, and that causes problems. Eventually things will go sideways, your real ID is gonna flag and when that happens cops start popping up around you like hoods at a humanis rally.
Get at least 1 good fake SIN, even if you can’t afford it. Then when you can, get a second one and licenses for your walking-around gear. Knight Errant is pretty chipped up these days trying to earn their new contract, so if you don’t have the licenses for your stuff, stay out of any neighborhood worth living in. Otherwise, sooner or later you’re going to get hauled in for some petty drek and whether or not you do time for it, you’ll end up with a criminal SIN which basically the worse case scenario for anyone, SINner or not.

On the subject of blending in…
Way too many wannabes come to this biz with a chip on their shoulder, an overinflated sense of style and a “take me as I am” attitude, that they’re not gonna ever be different. Well I got news for those guys, their stupid fucking pink mohawks and rhinestone jackets might as well emit their own light for all the good they do you in the shadows. Those guys aren’t shadowrunners, they’re hired thugs and stupid ones at that.
Start with meeting the Johnson. There are a lot of times when somebody (other than the face), if not the whole team will have to be in a place where they wouldn’t be caught dead if they had a choice. How you present yourself in these situations will either pigeon hole you as an unprofessional thug or it will set you apart from those ass clowns trying to work the shadows.
No matter what role you fill on the team, you’ve got to dress for the occasion, you are trying to be SHADOWrunners after all. There are some times when out of place dress and behavior will simply hurt you, like meeting the Johnson. There’s other times where looking out of place will mean automatic failure either because they called security when you walked in the door, or because a random Knight patrol thought you looked out of place while on a stakeout (likely called by a panicky soccer mom).

After a long evening, the pizza is all gone and the beer is finally reaching the bottom of the glasses. Uncle Elwyn pauses for a moment and tells you to think about where you came from… And if you continued on that path, what kind of life would you have? Is this what you want? This is your last chance to back out…. As if on cue, a video comes on the trid screen and Uncle Elwin turns away from you for the first this evening…